Gangwon FC terminated the contract with Kim Jeong-ho (25), who was caught for drunk driving. Looking back at the current status of players who have been dishonorably discharged for drunk driving, it is unclear whether Kim Jeong-ho will also be able to continue his career as a professional player.
The Gangwon club officially announced on the 19th that it had terminated the contract with Kim Jeong-ho. It has been six days since the club informed fans that Kim Jeong-ho was caught drunk driving. The Gangwon club, which had planned to decide on Kim Jeong-ho’s future as soon as the investigation by the relevant organizations was completed, eventually concluded to terminate the remaining contract with Kim Jeong-ho.
This is the third case of contract termination due to drunk driving in the K League this season. Previously, FC Anyang’s Jonatan (Costa Rica) and Suwon FC Lass (Netherlands) were dishonorably discharged due to drunk driving. Kim Jeong-ho is the first domestic player, and he also met the same ending as the previous foreign players.
According to the club, Kim Jeong-ho had a car accident while heading to the Gangneung clubhouse the next morning after drinking with acquaintances on the 10th, and was found to be drunk during a police investigation. The Gangwon club immediately informed the federation of this fact and issued a statement saying, “All members of the club are deeply reflecting on the unfortunate incident that occurred. “We will do our best to prevent something like this from happening again,” he apologized to his fans.
The federation also first suspended Kim Jeong-ho for 60 days. Suspension of activities is a temporary disciplinary action given before the rewards and punishment committee when a player commits an act of misconduct that causes social controversy or damages the value of the league. Official disciplinary action against Kim Jeong-ho at the federation level was scheduled to be decided through the Rewards and Punishments Committee. Previously, Lars was suspended for 15 games and fined 4 million won. However, as the contract between Gangwon and Kim Jeong-ho was terminated, the federation’s rewards and punishment committee was also no longer held.
The recent trend of being ‘dishonorably discharged’ for drunk driving has continued this time as well. As social publicity over drunk driving grows, the K-League is terminating the contracts of both domestic and foreign players rather than accompanying them. Every year, there are players who cause controversy by being caught for drunk driving, and most of them end up being discharged.
In fact, in 2021, Bucheon FC terminated the contract with Moon Gwang-seok and South Chungcheong Asan terminated the contract with Lee Jae-gun. The following year, Jeonbuk Hyundai also concluded its contract with Kunimoto (Japan) and released him. Following Jonatan and Lars this year, Kim Jeong-ho also reached the same ending. Cases of players caught for drunk driving being dishonorably discharged are repeated every year.
Of course, there were cases where people continued to accompany the club even after drinking and driving. However, the circumstances at the time were taken into account to some extent, and it ended up being a disciplinary action against the federation. In 2020, Park In-hyuk (then Daejeon Hana Citizen) was caught for drunk driving after receiving a call asking him to move a parked car while drinking and causing a collision while driving the car. The following year, Cha Oh-yeon (Cheonan City), while playing for FC Seoul, was caught parking the car himself after using a designated driver in 2021. The Professional Football League issued suspensions of 10 and 8 games, respectively, and their teams continued to follow suit.
Lee Sang-min (Seongnam FC) in 2020 is a unique case. Lee Sang-min was caught drunk driving while playing for Asan, South Chungcheong Province, but did not notify the club. He was notified only after playing in three more games, adding to the controversy over his drunk driving and concealment. Nevertheless, South Chungcheong Asan even completely recruited Lee Sang-min, who was on loan at the time. This led to criticism from the local community and boycott of supporters. Recently, he was selected for the Hangzhou Asian Games national team, but was later discovered to have violated the Korea Football Association (KFA) national team regulations, and was eventually excluded from the national team list.
Recently, with the exception of Lee Sang-min, most domestic players who were dishonorably discharged due to drunk driving have been shunned by professional players and are playing in semi-pro leagues. There are even players whose presence has disappeared to the extent that it is difficult to even know their current status. Even though there are many cases where people have suffered ‘fatal injuries’ in their soccer careers due to drunk driving even after struggling to advance to the professional stage, there are repeated cases of being caught for drunk driving.
Even if the contract with the team is terminated and the player becomes a free agent (FA),메이저사이트 it is inevitable that it will be burdensome to recruit a player with a history of drunk driving. Drunk driving is a crime that causes social outrage, and it is not easy to recruit a player while enduring strong criticism from fans. This is why most players recently released for drunk driving are unable to continue their professional careers.
The same goes for Kim Jeong-ho. After being caught for drunk driving and being dishonorably discharged from Gangwon, it became difficult for him to continue his career as a professional player. Originally, Kim Jeong-ho’s contract with Gangwon ended this year. After finishing this season, he could find a new team through free agency and continue his career as a professional player, finding a new turning point in his career. That opportunity was virtually wasted. It’s not a matter of blaming anyone. It is a responsibility that must be borne solely by oneself.